Device for fitting caps to containers

ABSTRACT

This device for fitting closing caps to containers filled with liquid, semi-liquid or pulverulent products, as they emerge from a filling machine, is easily adapted to most existing filling machines. It comprises essentially a rotary spider having a vertical axis and adapted to receive the containers as they are delivered from the filling machine. Said spider carries a head adapted to revolve in synchronism therewith and to dispense the caps to be fitted to said containers. Said head comprises, in combination with each notch of said spider, a cranked lever fulcrumed about a horizontal axis, each lever having one end directed outwards and centered to the notch associated therewith, and provided on its lower face with cap gripping means enabling it to grip and retain the caps separately, means being provided for displacing angularly towards the neck of the container engaged in the relevant notch the aforesaid free end of said lever, after said lever has picked up a cap during its travel past the downstream end of a cap dispensing channel.

United States Patent 1191 Pagay [451 Sept. 18,1973

DEVICE FOR FITTING CAPS TO CONTAINERS [75] Inventor: Roger FrancoisMathieu Pagay, Lyon, France [73] Assignee: Societe Nouvelle BaeleGanglott,

Villeurbanne, France [22] Filed: Oct. 19, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 190,609

23 1111 3 ll l Primary Examiner-Travis S. McGehee AssistantExaminerHorace M. Culver Attorney-Eric'H. Waters et al.

[57] ABSTRACT This device for fitting closing caps to containers filledwith liquid, semi-liquid or pulverulent products, as they emerge from afilling machine, is easily adapted to most existing filling machines. itcomprises essentially a rotary spider having a vertical axis and adaptedto receive the containers as they are delivered from the fillingmachine. Said spider carries a head adapted to revolve in synchronismtherewith and to dispense the caps to be fitted to said containers. Saidhead comprises, in combination with each notch of said spider, a crankedlever fulcrumed about a horizontal axis, each lever having one enddirected outwards and centered to the notch associated therewith, andprovided on its lower face with cap gripping means enabling it to gripand retain the caps separately, means being provided for displacingangularly towards the neck of the container engaged in the relevantnotch the aforesaid free end of said lever, after said lever has pickedup a cap during its travel past the downstream end of a cap dispensingchannel.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures esa PATENTEDSEP! a 1973 $759,012

sum 1 or 3 FiG.4

PATENTED SE?! 8 I975 SHEET 3 BF 3 1 DEVICE FOR FITTING CAPS TOCONTAINERS FIELD OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ARTConventional arrangements for closing machine filled containers haveutilized a separate capping machine disposed downstream of the fillingmachine proper, to which it is connected through a chain conveyor.

As a rule, these machines constitute a bulky assembly requiring aconsiderable power expenditure. Moreover, when plastic bottles are usedthey are frequently subjected to a certain deformation on the conveyordue to the mutual pressure exerted thereon, which causes liquid productto be expelled therefrom. Likewise, the shocks occuring during thetransport of these filled but still open containers cause liquid to bespilled and lost.

Moreover, for obvious hygienic reasons the liquid product contained inthe bottles or other containers must be sheltered as rapidly as possiblefrom the surrounding atmosphere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the primary object of the presentinvention to avoid these inconveniences by providing a new device forfitting caps to bottles and other containers, this device being easilyadaptable to most of the known and existing filling machines.

To this end, the device according to this invention comprises a rotaryspider having a vertical axis and adaptedto receive the containers asthey are delivered from the filling machine, said spider carrying a headadapted to revolve in synchronism therewith and to dispense the caps tobe fitted to the necks of the filled containers said head comprising, incombination with each notch of said spider, a lever fulcrumed about ahorizontal axis, each lever having one end directed outwards andcentered to the corresponding notch and provided on its lower face withgripping means adapted to grip and retain the caps, means being providedfor displacing angularly towards the neck of the container engagedseparately in the relevant notch, the aforesaid free end of said lever,after said lever has picked up a cap during its travel past thedownstream end of a cap dispensing channel.

Since the aforesaid free end of the pivoting lever may have a veryreduced thickness, it is possible to pass it between the bottleneck andthe filling tap immediately after the completion of the fillingoperation.

To ensure proper closing of the containers even when a certain playdevelops as a consequence of wear, and according to a particularlyadvantageous form of embodiment of this invention, a pushmemberresponsive to a calibrated spring projects from the operative surface ofa fixed cam in the path of a roller follower carried by the vertical armof said lever, at a predetermined location, whereby, when the rollerfollower engages said push-member, it exerts through a substantiallyhorizontal arm on the free end of said lever a predetermined effort onthe cap in order properly to fit same into the neck of the container.

To facilitate the gripping of the caps by the horizontal arms of saidbell-crank levers and according to another feature characterizing thisinvention, a capretaining and selecting device is provided in thevicinity of the downstream end of the cap dispensing channel, thislast-named device comprising essentially a strapshaped pawl whereby thefirst or leading cap in the channel is released while the following capsare retained until, upon release of said first cap, the pawl is returnedto its initial position and the first next cap thus released is allowedto slide down and so forth.

On the other hand, to prevent the selected cap from falling from thedownstream end of the dispensing channel, the horizontal arm of eachbell-crank lever carries in the vicinity of its free end a shoulderacting as a retaining means for limiting the travel of the cap picked upby said lever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating theprinciple of operation of the device of this invention FIG. 2 is anaxial section taken along the line'2-2 of FIG. 3

FIG. 3 is a plan view from above with a half-section taken along theline 3-3 of FIG. 2

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view showing the cap retaining and selectingdevice FIG. 5 is a top view in section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.2 and showing details of the rotary dispensing device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The diagram of FIG. 1illustrates the general principle of a device I, 2 for fitting caps tocontainers, this device, as shown, being positioned downstream of andtangent to a filling machine, the filling path 3 of which is shown verydiagrammatically.

This device I, 2 is adapted to pick up the containers 4 at the end ofthe filling operation taking place at stations a, b, c, then to fit acap to each container, and finally to release the capped containers at dwhere they are taken by a conveyor 5 and directed towards storage means(not shown).

The device I, 2 comprises essentially a single or double spider l and ahead 2, the latter comprising a disk 60 which supports a notched wheel6. Parts revolve in synchronism about a common, vertical axis. Eachnotch 7 of wheel 6 is adapted to engage the neck of a container, forexample a plastic bottle 4, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. a

The disk 6a and notched wheel 6 are assembled with the interposition ofspacers 8 mounted on the disk, where they are centered by tubular splitpins 9, and the disk and wheel 6a, 6 are assembled by means of screws 10alternating with said tubular split pins 9 on a common circumference.

The disk 6a comprises a central, open disk portion and a cylindricalsocket 12, concentric with the disk 60 and welded to its lower, centralface. The lower portion of socket 12 is clamped to a driving shaft 13 ofcorresponding diameter, acting as a support. The socket 12 carries onthe other hand at its upper end a nut 14 the upper portion of which hasa cylindrical surface for fitting the inner race of a ball-bearing l6thereon.

The outer race of bearing 16 is fitted in a corresponding recess 17formed in the lower portion of a cylindrical vertical member 18concentricwith the notched wheel 6.

Precision-fitted in the bore of cylindrical member 18 is another tubularmember 19 having its upper end welded to a horizontal plate 20 rigidwith the frame structure F of the device.

This tubular member 19 receives concentrically therein a relatively longscrew 21 engaging the nut 14 and bearing with its lower end against theupper end of shaft 13. The upper end of screw 21 comprises a hexagonalhead 21a to permit the necessary adjustment.

With this arrangement, by rotating the screw 21 in one or the otherdirection it is possible to modify the level of head 2 in relation tospider 1.

Registering with each notch 7 of wheel 6 and underlying notch of spiderl is a bell-crank or angle lever 22 fulcrumed substantially at its elbowabout a pivot pin 23 carried by a strap 24 secured to the disk 6a. Eachlever 22 comprises a substantially horizontal arm 22a and asubstantially vertical arm 22b.

The horizontal arm 22a 'of lever 22 extends outwardly from pivot pin 23over the notched wheel 6 and the vertical arm 22b has its lower endupwardly biased by a compression spring 25 housed in a bore formed indisk 6a on the other hand, this arm 22b carries at its upper end aroller follower 26 having a vertical axis.

Thus spring 25 constantly urges the bell-crank lever 22 for pivoting inthe clockwise direction, as shown by the arrow 27 in FIG. 2, so that inthe inoperative position the horizontal arm 22a of each lever 22 issomewhat inclined, and its free end can overlie the mouth of thecontainer just released from the filling machine.

Secured to the notched wheel 6 is an annular member 28 having a radialportion 28a for the fastening it to the notched wheel 6, and also havingcylindrical portion 28b coaxially facing the cylindrical member 18 andformed with a radial upper face 280. The cylindrical portion 28b hasformed therein, peripherally adjacent and opositeto each crnak lever, aconduit 29. Each conduit 29 has an outer end, where this conduit isconnected through a flexible hose 30 to an orifice formed in thevicinity of the free end of the lower face of the horizontal arm 22a ofthe adjacent lever 22. The other end of conduit 29 opens through theradial face 280'. Above member 28, which constitutes the rotary elementof a pneumatic distributor, is a circular member 32 secured to anexternal flange formed on cylindrical member 18, intennediate the endsthereof. The lower radial face 32a of this flange bears on the radialupper face 280 of annular member 28. The circular member 32 constitutesthe fixed element of said distributor.

Circular member 32 comprises a circular groove 33 covering an arc ofabout 270 and registering with the outlet orifices of conduits 29 whichopen through having a radial face 28c. opposite crank f This groove 33is connected through four small'radial passages 34 to an annular cavity35 formed in the bore 36 of circular member 32. On either side of saidannular cavity 35 a pair of annular grooves are formed and provided withsuitable seals such as O-rings. Opening radially into the annular cavity35 is the lower end of a longitudinal duct 37 formed in cylindricalmember 18, the upper end of said duct 37 opening also radially at theupper end of said cylindrical member 18 into a union or nozzle 38connected to a source of vacuum.

The cylindrical member 18 carries a fixed cam 39 coplanar with theroller followers 26. This cam 39 has formed therein a radial holereceiving a push member 40 responsive to a calibrated spring 42. A pin43 engaging with its lower end an axial groove formed in said pushmember 40 prevents the latter from being ejected from its radial hole.

Finally, a cap retaining and selecting device 44 is provided at adownstream end of the cap dispensing channel (not shown). This device 44carried by a support 46 (FIGS. 3 and 4) comprises essentially aU-sectioned channel section 47 and a rocker or pawl 48 disposed beneathsaid channel. The pawl 48 is substantially strap-shaped and has its basefulcrumed about a horizontal pivot pin 49. Moreover, it comprises at itslower portion a central depending stud 50.

The bottom wall of channel 47 has formed therethrough an elongatedaperture permitting the passage of the free end of each arm of said pawl48 and the latter is constantly urged by a spring 52 to an inoperativeposition in which the downstream arm of the pawl projects above saidbottom wall so as to retain the caps 45 accumulating upstream thereof.

The stud 50 is adapted to co-act with a horizontal cam 53 pivoted to avertical pin 54 and formed with a portion shaped to project in the pathof vertical pins 56 carried by the notched wheel 6 and associated witheach crank lever 22. Thus, during a very short time, these pins 56 areadapted to actuate the cam 53 and rock the pawl 48 in order to retractthe downstream arm thereof while causing its upstream arm to projectabove the bottom wall of the cap dispensing channel 47.

As a result, the first cap is released by the. downstream arm of pawl 48and slides towards its gripping or pick-up point, the other caps beingretained by the upstream arm until the cam 53 is released by the pin 56.Then, the pawl 48 is returned to its initial position by the spring 52and the first following cap is released .in turn and slides towards thedownstream arm, and so forth.

The movement of each released cap is facilitated by the provision of asuitably directed air-jet nozzle 57 controlled in synchronism with themovements of pawl 48 through suitable means (not shown).

The above-described device operates as follows Successive containers 4,filled at a, b, 0 (FIG. 1) are released from filling machine path 3 andare directly, as shown tangentially engaged by the new spider and headunit, whereon they move around to psoition d, while their mouths arecapped. They are then released, near :1, for disposal by conveyor 5.Meanwhile caps are received in the cap channel (at right in the cappingunit), are transferred therefrom to successive levers 22 (FIG. 4) andare carried around to the point of tangency between the filling andcapping paths (FIG. 1).

The spider ii and notched wheel 6 are rotatably driven from shaft 13 ata predetermined speed depending onthe rate of delivery of containers 4,i.e. on the rate of filling of these containers in the filling machine3.

The containers are. carried around shaft 13 by the spider 1 and notchedwheel 6, immediately after the filling thereof, their necks engagingeach a notch 7 of wheel 6 (FIG. 2, 3).

During the rotation of this notched wheel 6 the free ends of successivehorizontal arms 22a are caused to move past and closely over thedownstream end of the cap dispensing channel 47 and, each time orshortly before, the conduit 29 corresponding to the respective arm, iscaused to communicate with the vacuum source via grooves 33 29. Thus, acap 45 is sucked and maintained against the lower face of this arm (FIG.4). This cap is subsequentely placed in vertical coaxial relationshipclosely above the neck of a container 4 and at that moment the roller 26engages the cam 39, thus causing the rocking of lever 22 in thedirection of the arrow 58 of FIG. 2.

As a result, the cap 45 is engaged with the mouth of the bottle, thismovement being enforced by the pas sage of roller 26 on push-member 40of cam 39.

When the roller follower 26 escapes from cam 39, lever 22 resumes itsinoperative position, then the capped container is released and carriedaway by con veyor 5 directing same to towards storage means. The samesequence of operations is repeated for each lever 22.

As shown and preferably the free end of lever 22 is extremely thin sothat it can be moved to a position above the neck of the container justafter the latter has left the filling tap of the filling machine.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for the various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new is:

l. A device for closing containers with closure means comprising:

a. a vertical driving shaft;

b. a spider having notches for receiving each container from a fillingmachine and for carrying the container along an arc of a circle aboutthe shaft;

. a head comprising a disk rotatable coaxially and in synchronism withthe spider;

cranked levers on the head, one above each notch of the spider, eachlever having a first, then generally horizontal arm for receiving aclosure means and for carrying it to a position opposite a container onsaid arc, and having a second arm extending generally vertically fromsaid first arm, and means for fastening the closure means to thecontainer on said are;

. a vacuum source; a source of closure means; distributor means formaintaining communication between said vacuum source and a point on theunderside of the first arm of each lever, along said arc, to pick upclosure means from the source of closure means and to release theclosure means at a predetermined point of said are; and

f. cam means on said head and follower means on said second arm foractuating each lever at said point to perform said fastening of thereleased closure means to the container.

2. Device as set forth in claim 1 wherein each cranked lever has meansto pivot it to the head for rocking motion of the first am from veryslightly above horizontal position to very slightly below horizontalposition and reverse, whereby the driving shaft, spider and head can beinstalled so that the spider receives the containers directly from thefilling machine, the horizontal arms of the cranked levers passingbetween the filling machine and the containers immediately after thefilling operation.

3. Device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the source of closure meanscomprises channel means for delivering the closure means, one after theother, at the periphery of the head, to the undersides of the horizontalarms of the levers, at a predetermined position relative to each arm andlever.

4. A device for fitting caps in the process of automatically cappingcontainers, which is disposed downstream of a filling machine, andcomprises a spider having a vertical axis, adapted to receive thecontainers as they are released from said filling machine, said spidercarrying a head rotating in synchronism therewith and adapted todistribute caps for closing said containers, said head comprising incombination with each notch of said spider a lever adapted to pivotabout a horizontal axis and having one end directed outwards, centeredto said notch and provided on its lower face with gripping means forgripping and retaining said caps, means being provided for movingangularly said free end of said lever towards the neck of the containerengaged in said notch after said free end has picked up a cap during itstravel past the downstream end of a cap dispensing channel, said meansfor causing the angular movement of said pivoting lever comprise on theone hand a roller carried by said lever and on the other hand a fixedcam, spring means constantly urging said roller against the operativecontour of said cam each time said roller mov'es past said cam, saidpivoting lever being a cranked lever fulcrumed at a point adjacent itselbow and having a substantially horizontal arm directed outwards, andcomprising cap gripping means on the lower face of its free end, theother arm of said lever extending substantially vertically and carryinga roller follower having a horizontal axis, said roller follower beingconstantly urged by spring means against the operative contour of saidfixed cam, said fixed cam imparting to said roller a downward tiltingmovement each time said roller moves past said cam, said fixed cam beingso positioned angularly that the downward tilting movement of said levertakes place above the neck of a container immediately at the end of thefilling thereof, said cap gripping means provided on the horiziontal armof each crank lever consisting of an orifice opening into the lower faceof said arm in the vicinity of the free end thereof and connected via arotary distributor to a vacuum source, said distributor being adapted tomaintain the fluid communication between said orifice and said vacuumsource only during that fraction of the revolution performed by saidhead which corresponds to the travel of said crank lever between the capgripping action and the sinking of the cap into the neck of saidcontainer, a disk provided with a central socket permitting the fittingand locking thereof to a driving shaft, said disk supporting a notchedwheel adapted to engage with each notch the neck of a container, and thepivot pins of a cranked lever, and further supporting a movable annularmember of a distributor connected to flexible hoses leading to thesuction orifices for gripping the caps, said movable annular memberbeing covered by a fixed annular member of a distributor connected tosaid vacuum 5. Device as set forth in claim 4, wherein a push memberresponsive to a calibrated spring projects from the operative face ofsaid fixed cam and also in the path of the roller follower carried bythe vertical arm of said cranked lever at a predetermined location,whereby, when said roller engages said push member it is adapted,through the horizontal arm of said lever, to exert a predeterminedeffort on the cap in order to properly sink same into the neck of thecontainer.

1. A device for closing containers with closure means comprising: a. avertical driving shaft; b. a spider having notches for receiving eachcontainer from a filling machine and for carrying the container along anarc of a circle about the shaft; c. a head comprising a disk rotatablecoaxially and in synchronism with the spider; d. cranked levers on thehead, one above each notch of the spider, each lever having a first,then generally horizontal arm for receiving a closure means and forcarrying it to a position opposite a container on said arc, and having asecond arm extending generally vertically from said first arm, and meansfor fastening the closure means to the container on said arc; e. avacuum source; a source of closure means; distributor means formaintaining communication between said vacuum source and a point on theunderside of the first arm of each lever, along said arc, to pick upclosure means from the source of closure means and to release theclosure means at a predetermined point of said arc; and f. cam means onsaid head and follower means on said second arm for actuating each leverat said point to perform said fastening of the released closure means tothe container.
 2. Device as set forth in claim 1 wherein each crankedlever has means to pivot it to the head for rocking motion of the firstarm from very slightly above horizontal position to very slightly belowhorizontal position and reverse, whereby the driving shaft, spider andhead can be installed so that the spider receives the containersdirectly from the filling machine, the horizontal arms of the crankedlevers passing between the filling machine and the containersimmediately after the filling operation.
 3. Device as set forth in claim1, wherein the source of closure means comprises channel means fordelivering the closure means, one after the other, at the periphery ofthe head, to the undersides of the horizontal arms of the levers, at apredetermined position relative to each arm and lever.
 4. A device forfitting caps in the process of automatically capping containers, whichis disposed downstream of a filling machine, and comprises a spiderhaving a vertical axis, adapted to receive the containers as they arereleased from said filling machine, said spider carrying a head rotatingin synchronism therewith and adapted to distribute caps for closing saidcontainers, said head comprising in combination with each notch of saidspider a lever adapted to pivot about a horizontal axis and having oneend directed outwards, centered to said notch and provided on its lowerface with gripping means for gripping and retaining said caps, meansbeing provided for moving angularly said free end of said lever towardsthe neck of the container engaged in said notch after said free end haspicked up a cap during its travel past the downstream end of a capdispensing channel, said means for causing the angular movement of saidpivoting lever comprise on the one hand a roller carried by said leverand on the other hand a fixed cam, spring means constantly urging saidroller against the operative contour of Said cam each time said rollermoves past said cam, said pivoting lever being a cranked lever fulcrumedat a point adjacent its elbow and having a substantially horizontal armdirected outwards, and comprising cap gripping means on the lower faceof its free end, the other arm of said lever extending substantiallyvertically and carrying a roller follower having a horizontal axis, saidroller follower being constantly urged by spring means against theoperative contour of said fixed cam, said fixed cam imparting to saidroller a downward tilting movement each time said roller moves past saidcam, said fixed cam being so positioned angularly that the downwardtilting movement of said lever takes place above the neck of a containerimmediately at the end of the filling thereof, said cap gripping meansprovided on the horiziontal arm of each crank lever consisting of anorifice opening into the lower face of said arm in the vicinity of thefree end thereof and connected via a rotary distributor to a vacuumsource, said distributor being adapted to maintain the fluidcommunication between said orifice and said vacuum source only duringthat fraction of the revolution performed by said head which correspondsto the travel of said crank lever between the cap gripping action andthe sinking of the cap into the neck of said container, a disk providedwith a central socket permitting the fitting and locking thereof to adriving shaft, said disk supporting a notched wheel adapted to engagewith each notch the neck of a container, and the pivot pins of a crankedlever, and further supporting a movable annular member of a distributorconnected to flexible hoses leading to the suction orifices for grippingthe caps, said movable annular member being covered by a fixed annularmember of a distributor connected to said vacuum source, and secured toan outer cylindrical member held against rotation but adapted to slidevertically along an inner tubular member rigid with the frame structureof the filling machine, said inner tubular member receiving coaxiallytherein a screw bearing with its lower end against the aforesaid drivingshaft and having its screw-threaded shank engaged in a nut rigid withsaid disk, the outer cylindrical member supporting said fixed cam foractuating said cranked levers.
 5. Device as set forth in claim 4,wherein a push member responsive to a calibrated spring projects fromthe operative face of said fixed cam and also in the path of the rollerfollower carried by the vertical arm of said cranked lever at apredetermined location, whereby, when said roller engages said pushmember it is adapted, through the horizontal arm of said lever, to exerta predetermined effort on the cap in order to properly sink same intothe neck of the container.